Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Personhood philosophy
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Personhood
What is a person? That sounds like a harmless question, but the answer can get very complicated. Is a person just a lump of skin, muscles, bones, and other materials? Is a person something immaterial like a mind or a soul? Or is a person a combination of these two things? Really there is no right answer, and it all depends on the point of view that you hold.
First of all, what is a body? Some say that a body is, like I said before, a lump of skin, muscles, bones, and other materials. Some say it is more than that. These people agree that the body is made up of skin, muscles, bones, etc., but they think the whole essence of personhood is in the body. They don’t believe in souls or minds, and they think that biological processes are the only processes that take place in a body. And when these processes cease to take place, death occurs, and since, to these people, a person is a body, life ends, and that is it. There is no after life, because there is nothing other than the body, and the body is gone. It is very true that biological things happen in your body, but are there other things that happen too?
That takes me to my next question: what is a soul? This question is a little harder to explain. To most people a soul is an essence, an invisible, immaterial entity. Most people associate a soul with the spiritual world. They say that a person is who they are because of their soul, not because of their body...
Afterlife myths explain what becomes of the soul after the body dies, as humans have a problem accepting the possibility that the soul becomes nothing.
In order to define personhood, one must first define a human. A Human can be thought about in two different senses, a moral human sense and a genetic human sense. In a moral sense, humans can be thought of as a person who is a member of the moral community. In a genetic sense, humans are merely any physical being categorized as a being in the human species. From this one can conclude that a person is a human in the moral sense. Furthermore, characteristics of a person must be defined in order to differentiate moral beings from genetic humans.
It has been suggested the etymology of the word “soul” is derived from the formation of the Germanic base as sea. On the other hand, “soul” primarily comes from the old English word sáwl, and has about the same meaning as the word today (the principal of life in man or animal.) (OED, 2015) The first definition in the Oxford English Dictionary is “an essential principal or attribute of life, and related senses,” and the second definition is “the principal of intelligence, thought, or action in a person…” These two definitions help better exemplify Fuller’s and Emerson’s concept of the word “soul.” Both writers believe the soul is a consciousness of its own, it is the most revealing and imperative source of knowledge. In that sense, knowledge is the “attribute of life” animating us to live. For one to live, one must think knowledgeably to better
As a Christian raised in a Southern Baptist church, I have always been taught and believed without questioning, that the soul is the part of me that makes me who I am. It is my personality, my thoughts and emotions, and my identity. Without my soul, I would be lifeless, like a light bulb without electricity. At death, according to my beliefs, the soul survives, separates from the body, and proceeds to its destination--heaven or hell. I have questioned this pre-held belief after reading James Rachels argument against the immortal soul.
The differences of mind and soul have intrigued mankind since the dawn of time, Rene Descartes, Thomas Nagel, and Plato have addressed the differences between mind and matter. Does the soul remain despite the demise of its material extension? Is the soul immaterial? Are bodies, but a mere extension of forms in the physical world? Descartes, Nagel, and Plato agree that the immaterial soul and the physical body are distinct entities.
Is there such a thing as a soul? And if so, how does it survive outside of a physical body?
It is easy to see how the defining of what a person is can be a tedious endeavor. As stated earlier, it is a common perception that in order to be a person one must be a human being. Midgley states, “It is my main business here to point out that this attitude is to crude” (Stephens ed. 316). Midgley brings up that man...
The soul cannot be completely defined or described, but it is the only thing we can be absolutely sure of, since all other facts are temporary. Being ourselves allows us to obtain many more answers and to understand our unconscious intentions. Humans may exceed their limited ideas by realizing that God exists and that in Him, we will find many answers if we open ourselves to Him. The soul is the creative essence, while all creation, including art which is human unity with natural things, is said to be Nature. In Nature the soul sees the picture of its own pure essence manifest, seeing beauty, truth, and justice in its laws.
Through the course of these last few weeks, we as a class have discussed the Soul, both in concept, and as it applies in terms of our readings of The Phaedo and as a philosophical construct. But the questions involved in that: In the ideas of good, of living a ‘good’ life and getting ‘rid of the body and of their wickedness’, as ‘there is no escape from evil’, (Phaedo, 107c), in whether or not the soul is immortal, or if our bodies themselves get in the way of some higher form of knowledge, or even of the importance of philosophy itself are rather complex, simultaneously broad and specific, and more than a little messy. While I discuss these aspects, the singular question that I feel applies to this is, in a sort of nihilistic fashion, does
There are two kinds of existences, the visible and the invisible. The invisible existence always remains the same whereas the visible never does. The body is more like to the visible existence and the soul is invisible. Visible things are those we know that exist because they have a form and invisible things are those we cannot see, they have no form.
of life, when we die we don't have souls, were empty, that is the end,
What does it mean to be human? Sure, one must have the usual physical features such as fingers, eyes, arms, hands, feet, etc., but what does it really mean? Must the human be able to speak? To take upon the actions of themselves? Whatever it means, it can be interpreted in any way from anyone. The physical attributes of any human can be compared to those of our evolutionary ancestors. However, it is possible to believe that there are many characteristics that make a human, but only six define the true, ideal human.
The soul can be defined as a perennial enigma that one may never understand. But many people rose to the challenge of effectively explaining just what the soul is about, along with outlining its desires. Three of these people are Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine. Even though all three had distinctive views, the similarities between their views are strikingly vivid. The soul indeed is an enigma to mankind and the only rational explanation of its being is yet to come and may never arrive.
John F. Crosby in his work, The Selfhood of the Human Person, attempts to provide an advancement in the understanding of the human person. Persons are conscious beings who think and know they are thinking. He claims persons are not merely replaceable objects, but characters who cannot be substituted or owned. Crosby describes personhood as standing in yourself, being an end to yourself, and being anchored in yourself. A feature of personhood is that persons can be conscious of everything in the universe while the universe acts on them. Additionally, personhood means persons exist for their own sake and not for the sake of others. However, persons who are centered in themselves often give of themselves. Persons are incommunicable unlike any other piece of creation. A quality of the incommunicability of persons is action. Aquinas explains person are not acted on but act through themselves.
From my understanding, the soul is our truest nature and though it lies inside of us, it is com...